"To each, his own," I say when it comes to runaway bestseller The Woman in the Window (2018), the debut novel of A.J. Finn. A "thriller," the story is that of agoraphobe, former child psychologist Anna Fox who spies on her neighbors. When she witnesses a murder, she becomes entangled in a film noir much like the ones of which she is a fan. Attempting to deal with her own guilt and trauma, Anna self medicates by guzzling bottles of Merlot mixed with prescriptions with heavy side effects. As a result, she lacks credibility when she reports what she witnessed and is quickly dismissed by authorities. Therein begins the "suspense," for Anna is now in danger with no allies to rely on.This book did not work for me for various reasons.
- The pacing: very slow. I understand that Finn was trying to mimic the pacing of the noir films that he, himself, and the character love, but good grief! I did not need thirty-plus chapters dedicated to background. I did not enjoy the meandering detours into Anna's past or the constant addition of dialogue from those old films showing up as background noise in key scenes of the novel. Those pieces of dialogue were unnecessary filler that did not contribute to the tension or suspense of the story.
- Drugged and drunk, Anna Fox, the narrator, was not a character who I felt invested in--and not because she abused her meds and alcohol.
- The first "twist" was no twist at all. I figured it out within her first conversation with the grandma in her online support group.
- The story is derivative. It feels too much like an attempt to be Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train, two books I've not read but know enough about to evoke that awareness in me. I've concluded that The Woman in the Window is a poor attempt to cash in by mimicking what made those two works successful.
- The pacing--it bears repeating--is truly brutal. Forty chapters in, I just skipped to the end.
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